Dove's 'Choose Beautiful' Campaign

In 2015, Dove released a campaign titled 'Choose Beautiful' which was part of their many advertisements for their Movement for Self Esteem. As in many of Dove's campaigns, women from around the world are called to renounce the media's portrayal of perfection and replace them with a strong message of female empowerment. 

This particular campaign focused on women in five different global cities. Each woman was given the opportunity to walk through one of two doors. One held a sign above that read, 'Average' and the other 'Beautiful'. The video showed a large majority of the women chose to walk through the door labeled 'Average.' In addition, a few women made comments attempting to justify their decisions such as "Beautiful, to me, felt too far out of reach" or " I went through the average door. I didn't even hesitate." Other women regretted their decisions automatically, "I didn't feel good after walking through the door that said average, because obviously I had treated myself as average." 

Soon, the tempo of the advertisement increases as many women find the confidence to walk through the door labeled beautiful and ultimately chose beautiful. Although the campaign consisted of what was meant to be a simple inspirational message, it received a hefty amount of backlash. Kat Gordon, founder of the 3% Conference, which advocates more female leadership in advertising, called the 'Choose Beautiful' campaign, “heavy-handed and manipulative." Viewers complained that the ad was patronizing. Many questioned what changed the women's opinions of themselves. In addition, many argued that the campaign was not rooted in science since Dove did not perform an actual social experiment. Dove focused on the statistic that only 4% of women think they're beautiful. However, they did not consider the research that 71% of women are satisfied with their beauty. 

It seems odd that many viewers disapproved of a campaign whose purpose was centered around helping women to see their own beauty. Regardless of the backlash, Dove's campaign continued to see amazing results through empowerment marketing.

Click the link below to watch Dove's 'Choose Beautiful' campaign. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=59&v=7DdM-4siaQw